27 memories
by Nov11th
Summary: It's a sorta of noir mixed in with the childhood troubles of epiphany's involving Arthur, Buster, and Molly. Kind of like a PTA movie.
1. Chapter 1

23:40

27 memories

Chapter 1

The moonlight creeped upon the Reid family house, reaching into Mr. and Mrs. Reid's room with baby kate sound asleep. Even the rambunctious D.W was as quiet as a mouse in her own humble abode, dreaming away little dreams. But not everyone was dreaming in the Reid house, one was scheming. As the moonlight entered Arthur's room, we see all his toys like his bionic bunny doll and his basketball shine in the moonlight. Arthur stared at his alarm clock as it read 11:58 p.m., he anxiously waited until his digital clock struck 12:00 a.m. Arthur then striped off his pajamas and underneath we see that he is fully clothed. As continued on with this plan he went under his bed and pulled out a bundle of rope. As Arthur smiled as he gazed upon the rope he walked over to his window and carefully opened it up so he would not make a sound. As Arthur pulled the window up all the way it made a screeching sound as Arthur gritted his teeth. He looked back to see if you he didn't wake anyone. After a few tense seconds, Arthur continued on with his plan, his body language showed that he could not waste any time. He moved towards his bed post as he took one end of the rope and tied it firmly to the post, he tugged on the rope a few times to test it's durability. Arthur moved back towards window as he threw the rope down onto the ground outside his window. Before he began his descent out into the night, Arthur grabbed his glasses off his nightstand and put them on, he also grabbed one of his jackets out of his closet. Finally ready, Arthur started his descent down the side of his house, a mixture of fear and desire kept him calm as he climbed down the rope.

As he reached the bottom he thanked God that he didn't slip and fall he started his long walk down the road. He made sure to hide himself whenever a car passed, because he knew people would ask what an eight year old was doing walking around at 12 at night. He imagined himself to be Dark Bunny as he tried to sneak out of sight of people.

"Hrrmm", Arthur grunted.

After a couple of minutes sneaking through his neighborhood Arthur made his way towards his destination. He looked up to see the glowing red neon sign labeled "Rodriquez Bros Diner". Arthur stared at the sign quizzly as he entered the diner.

The diner gave off a feeling of a mix between solitude and loneliness, that and a bad smell. There was barely anyone in the diner, just a few people and a group of loud college students sitting in a booth. Just then out of the kitchen came the manager Luis Rodriguez, he was a brown dog dressed in a flamboyant red suit as he came out and greeted Arthur.

"Hi welcome to Rodriguez brothers diner, just one person?", asked Luis.

"No, I'm meeting someone here, why does it say Rodriquez instead of Rodriguez?", Arthur asked.

"What?" Luis then ran out of the restaurant to see the sign.

He ran back in as he went into the kitchen. Arthur could hear the whole ordeal outside, "Goddamit Danny! You don't spell Rodriguez with a Q, you spell it with a G, aww Jesus.."

As Arthur left Luis to his woes he made his way down the aisle till he spotted the person he came to see in the dead of night. He noticed her bright red hair shining in the florescent lights of the diner, and her long bunny ears protruding out of her head. She brushed her hair back to keep her eyes being obscured on the drawing she was sketching in her notebook. She was wearing a black army jacket that was too big for her as she sat there focused on her drawing. Arthur began to breathe heavily as she saw her, he felt all the coldness leaving his body as Arthur began to feel hot in the cold night.

Finally as he arrived at the table he greeted the girl, "Molly."

The girl looked up as he heard her name seeing Arthur standing at the table. "Hey nerd.", Molly said teasing Arthur.

He chuckled after hearing that, still same old same old thought Arthur. "I'm good Molly how are you?"

"Well I was good today till you asked me to come meet you here so late. Isn't it past your bedtime baby?" Arthur smiled again at Molly's insults, he really knew she was playing with him.

Before they could continue their conversation, Luis approached their table and said, "What can I get for you kids?"

"Coffee, for me.", Arthur had said.

"I'll have Coffee too", Molly said.

Arthur didn't know why he ordered coffee, but it seemed appropriate to the occasion. Molly not wanting to look like a baby ordered coffee as well.

"All right so two coffee's, you know it's pretty late for you kids to be out here, where are your parents?", Luis asked.

Molly raised her fist towards the manager as she said, If you know what's good for you, you would stop playing 20 questions and bring out our coffee's before you enter a world of pain."

Molly stared at Luis a good second before he ran off to get the coffees. As he left Arthur could hear him speak some Spanish under his breath as he disappeared back into the kitchen. Arthur then turned his gaze towards the dark city outside. He admired the vast emptiness of the streets, except the occasional passing car, the night seemed peaceful. There were only a few clouds outside, but it seemed that little by little more clouds would form sooner tonight.

"So are you gonna tell me why you asked me to come here in this diner in the middle of the night?", asked Molly.

Though Arthur heard Molly, he continued to stare out into the night. "Hello? Arthur, Arthur?"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Back to earlier in the day. We are at Lakewood Elementary School and school has just finished. Countless children flood the halls as they eagerly make there way home. Among the sea of countless students, we see Buster Baxter making his way toward his locker with his friend George.

"You have to tell me your secret George, I mean how do you do get all those girls?", Buster asked.

"Well..", before George could finish Buster spotted Arthur walking towards them.

"Hey Arthur! Do you want to hang out after..", Buster shouted.

Arthur paid no avail as he hurried past Buster and George down the hallway in a hurry. Buster looked puzzled as he wondered what caused Arthur to ignore Buster and where he was going. "Hey Buster, I got to go, my parents are waiting", said George, leaving.

"All right, see you tomorrow George.", said Buster.

"Tomorrow's Saturday Buster! We have no school!", George shouted down the hall.

"Ohhh yeah… All right!", Buster said gleefully.

As he celebrated the coming of the weekend Buster opened his locker, and to much of his surprise a note dropped out onto the ground. Buster looked down at the half folded not on the ground before picking it up. He looked in each direction before reading it. As he opened the note, he read the contents of it.

" Detective Baxter, you're services are needed again. Meet in front of the sugar bowl in ten minutes sharp".

As Buster continued to gaze at the note, he wondered if he should get back into the detective game. He pulled his fedora out of his locker and put it on, as he knew that like the smell of mom's pancakes in the morning. Detective Baxter knew this seemed like a case he could not walk away from.

The Sugar bowl is a lively place on a Friday after school. The voices of Lakewood Elementary students had left the school quiet and engrossed the Sugar bowl with life. Students were gossiping about other students, and the different grades sat apart from each other. They sat from booth to booth in their little cliques chatting away. While the birds were squawking in their cages, Buster had been sitting outside of the Sugarbowl, waiting for his ominous client.

"I wonder when the Steves gonna show up, gettn a little greased just sittin around", Buster thought to himself.

Just then Prunella walked out of the corner and came towards Buster. Buster stared at her as she sat down next to him. She reached into her pocket and grabbed an envelope out and handed it to Buster.

"Don't bother asking me who I got this from, I was just told to give it to you.", said Prunella.

As Buster took the envelope he looked over to Prunella, who looked very distressed.

Before she got up to leave Buster grabbed her shoulder, "Hey slobber up Kitty Kat, who's making you play in the mud?", Buster.

Prunella nervously looked away from Buster and pulled away as she walked off, "I have to go, sorry."

Buster looked on to the envelope clearly labeled "B.B", as he opened the letter he read it to himself.

" Dear Detective, I have called you here to discuss the terms of a job, I'd like for you to accept the task of following someone for me day and night. If you choose to accept you would be paid handsomely, but in the unfortunate event that you would accept this job I am afraid some measures need to be taken for your cooperation. Enclosed in the envelope are some pictures for you to see." Buster rustled through the envelope as he took out a number of pictures, as he laid his eyes upon them he eyes widened in fear. " I have your rotten food collection under my care, and it would be unfortunate to see your possession's lost in a fire. So in short this isn't a offer , this is a order. Find out whatever you can about this person and all your things will be returned to you. Sincerely, MPU. P.S , a picture of your assignment is attached at the bottom. P.S.S, If you don't believe the pictures, empty out the rest of the envelope." As Buster finished reading the letter he emptied the contents of the envelope onto his hand. A collection of black ash amounted on his hands, as he leaned in and smelt the ash. "6 month old PB&J….", Buster thought to himself.

He crushed the ash with his hands as he looked at the picture of the target. "Molly Macdonald."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

It was 11:30 p.m outside the Macdonald residence. Everyone was sound asleep inside the warm house. Everyone except for Buster, who shivered as he sat behind the Macdonalds rose bush. Buster began snooping for his client throughout the afternoon, following Molly Macdonald from the Sugar Bowl to the jungle gym where she hung out with the Tough Customers. After several hours of watching them chimp around, Molly made her way back here. Which Buster had been waiting the entire time to make her move. He jotted down every note about her, just as the client requested. What Buster didn't understand was why he was out in the cold at 11:45 p.m at night waiting for her. As Buster pondered more on this question the front door of the Macdonald house began to creep open and out came Molly. Dressed in a black army jacket and jeans with her skateboard in hand, Molly carefully closed the front door of her house and made her way onto the street. Buster looked on as she made her way onto the sidewalk and rode her skateboard down the street.

"Jams out of the Jar.", Buster thought to himself.

As Buster got up he walked through the thorn bush and yelled in pain as he passed each thorn. "OW! OW! OW!"

Buster tried to follow Molly in hot pursuit around the City. Past the Sugar Bowl, past the School, past the Parks and the Library, and past Arthurs house. As the crossed another block, Buster began to lose stamina and was unable to keep up with Molly. Her image become more faint as she rode on until she was consumed by the night.

In between heavy breaths Buster thought, "Darn, this Jack Rabbits spilled the Jelly Beans."

He continued his search throughout the neighborhood, but to no avail. Buster looked back at his Bionic Bunny wristwatch and saw that it read on its digital face that it was 12:20 p.m. Buster was starting to lose hope in recovering his rotten food collection,he cursed the night sky as he said,

"Come on Baxter! Think! Use whatever brain you got up in there!"

As Buster beat himself over the head with his fist, a image suddenly popped himself after the second thunk to the noggin.

"French TOAST!"

"Of course, why didn't I think of that before."Buster congratulated himself again before running off to Molly's location.

From a distance he saw it, the Red neon sign of the Rodriguez bros Diner became more visible as he came closer towards the diner. Many fond memories flooded Buster's mind as he inhaled the smell of the diner. The idea of pancakes, waffles, and French toast was tempting to Buster but he had a job to do. As it pained to say it, food had to wait. He spotted Molly at a booth sitting and talking with someone, he couldn't make out who that person was but only saw the back of his head. He had to get closer. Luis that emerged with a pot of coffee as he greeted Buster,

"Welcome to Rodriguez Bros Diner, sit anywhere you like."

"Isn't Rodriguez spelled with a G not a Q", Buster asked.

Luis looked at Buster angrily before walking away towards Molly's booth. Buster not wanting to be seen sat at the next aisle across from Molly's to try and see who she's meeting. As he sat down he instantly recognized the person Molly was meeting, Arthur. He thought after their friends came together, they had put a stop to that friendship. But it looks like they deceived everyone again, the question was why were they meeting here in the middle of the night. As Buster tried to listen in on the conversation, Luis approached Buster's table.

"Yo little man, what you having?"

Buster not paying attention to Luis said, "Shoo fly, this aint your honey."

"Look you don't order anything, you get out of here. Get it?"

"Fine, bring me a milk….chocolate."

"Dios mios man", Luis said walking away.

Buster turned his attention back to Molly and Arthur, he saw that their argument became heated as Molly raised her voice, "Spit it out!"

Buster tried to hear what Arthurs next's words were, but the obnoxious college students behind him muffled the sound. As Buster cursed those kids he looked back to Molly whose face was quiet after Arthur spoke. She grabbed her notebook and skateboard as she got up from her booth and walked out of the diner,

Arthur tried to follow yelling, "Molly wait! Wait!"

To no avail Molly hopped on her skateboard and skated on down the street as Arthur tried to follow. Buster not wanting to lose them, ran out of the restaurant to follow them, but they were already out of sight. Buster kicked himself again for losing the trail. He solemnly looked on into the night as his face was bathed by the red glow of the neon sign. Buster began to question the validity of this case and if it was worth the trouble of getting his collection back, but there was a bigger question that came to mind as Buster walked home. What the hell were Arthur and Molly talking about?


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"What the hell was Arthur talking about?", Molly thought to herself.

Confusion lay with Molly in the morning as she thought about what was exchanged between her and Arthur at that Diner on Friday. Confusion and more though a lack of sleep made up for Molly's lack of focus today. She stared out the window towards the soccer field outside of her class, as she saw many of the fourth graders right now having P.E. As all the kids chased around the ball outside, Molly spotted a familiar face among the crowd. No not Binky, that ugly mug was obvious. No, what she saw was the boy with the brown rounded coke bottle glasses, running around the field with his friends, looking as if he never experienced the night before. As she turned her attention back to class, whilst still imagining the scent of coffee and bad smelling Mexican food at 12:30 at night.

Throughout the day Molly had made an effort to try to avoid Arthur , where ever he popped up at. When she even caught a glimpse of him, she couldn't help but feel uneasy and confused. These emotions made Molly breathe harder and faster like she was at that night. School had finally ended and everyone had headed home for the day. The school was quiet again, except for a few kids hanging on the playground. Molly had left the company of the Tough Customers for today and left to be in Solitude. As she sat high upon the jungle gym she took out her sketchbook and began to draw. As she drew she thought to herself, "God I think that what Arthur said to me is sinking in." She noticed a bunch of kids going down the slide and others playing in the sand. Molly noticed one kid on the swings just idly swinging back and forth, as she tried to focus her eyes to see who it was, Molly was interrupted by the sound of footsteps of someone climbing onto the jungle gym. It looked like a girl from the fourth grade class, unlike the other kids in the school, this girl wasn't afraid of Molly. She approached Molly with a smile on her face and said, "Hey Molly, It's Sue Ellen." Molly continued to look off in the distance as she said, "What do you want baby? Doesn't it look I want to be alone?" "I just wanted your advice on this problem I have." "Shop's closed, come back another day." "Please? I really need your help, I'll even pay you." Sue-Ellen pulled out a bunch of one dollar bills from her pocket as she offered them to Molly. Molly then relented as she grabbed the bills from Sue Ellens hands. "Take a seat. What's your problem?", Molly asked. As Sue Ellen sat down next to Molly she explained her inquiry, "You see lately, out of the blue. I've started to feel differently about myself. I also feel differently about my life too and more importantly about this person I know. I'm just really confused on what I should do and that's why I came here to ask you, since you're good at giving advice. What should I do?" Molly thought about Sue-ellen's question for awhile, she thought and thought, but nothing came to mind. She just got more and more confused just thinking about it. "I got nothing, sorry…", Molly said as she got up and walked off the jungle gym. Sue-Ellen yelled, "HEY? What am I suppose to do?" Molly paid no attention as she continued to walk off in the distance feeling sadness in her heart. "What about my money?" Sue-Ellen looked back to where Molly was sitting and saw a crumpled dollar sitting there. "HEY! Give me back my two bucks!"

The Sugar bowl had surprisingly been not that busy today, with the exception of a few patrons, it was very quiet. Molly had just passed it on her way home from school. She was suddenly struck with a craving for coffee and this craving is what compelled her to enter the malt shop. The sounds of 50's hipsters pop music filled her white rabbit ears as she approached the counter. Her ears flopped down from the toxicity of listening to these tunes.

"Coffee please.", Molly said.

"All right will that be here or to go?", asked the manager.

As Molly was about to answer, the bell on the door of the malt shop jingled. Instinctively whenever that happens most people look to see who it is. As Molly turned her head to see who it was, she was filled with that same feeling of confusion and sadness she felt today.

" Miss? For here or to go?"

Molly continued to fixate her gaze towards Arthur, and soon enough Arthur noticed Molly and looked back at her. The music from the jukebox only heightened the tension in their silence.

"Miss?", Molly heard the manager faintly.

She snapped back to reality and replied, "To go.."

She took out the change she had and grabbed the coffee cup and walked towards Arthur. She could feel the anger rise within her as she approached Arthur As Molly confronted him all that sadness and confused turned into frustration and anger as she grabbed the collar of Arthur's yellow sweater and dragged him out of the Malt shop.

As they arrived to the back of the Sugar Bowl, Molly released her iron grip on Arthur and pushed him towards the wall. "If you're trying to ask for my allowance, you're doing a pretty good job of it.", Arthur said.

Arthur's witty retort only made Molly angier as she tightened her fist up. "Shut up.", Molly said. "All right? Just Shut up. You think this is funny? Is that why you asked to meet me at midnight? Just for a laugh?"

"I wasn't trying to make fun of you, what I said was the truth. I really meant it when I said…", Arthur said before being interrupted by Molly.

"Don't… say… it, it just weird when you say stuff like that… I feel weird" Arthur then stepped closer to Molly as he could see she became more and more frustrated.

"You want to know what's weird? It's weird how such a person like yourself can play the bully part so well when she's confronted with actual truth in her life. So let me ask you this Molly, why is it weird for me to say that to you? What are you afraid of? Tell me what are you afraid of?", Arthur pressed more and more to Molly.

She tightened her grip on her coffee and in doing so she crushed coffee cup in her hands. She bit her lip and gritted her teeth as tried to ignore Arthur. She felt like she was losing control, Molly became a mix of emotion as she tried to hold back all her anger. Finally something within her snapped as she swung and punched Arthur in the face. As he fell onto the ground he held his jaw in pain, his cheek began to swell up as Arthur processed what happened. Molly in shock dropped her coffee and looked over to Arthur as he began to tear up from the pain. All the anger and frustration left Molly and instead became fear, fear which caused her to run away from the scene of the crime. As she ran and ran, she could feel sadness as she felt the tears falling down her cheeks. Sadness and confusion, I guess it was back to square one.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Arthur was in class, was lecturing about the war of the roses, but Arthur was not listening. He was still scratching his cheek, it was only two weeks and he could still feel Molly's fist on his face. He had to admit that hurt a lot, there was only a little blood from his mouth. Arthur was more surprised than hurt, he wanted to know why he got hurt. He tried confronting her at school, but she was nowhere to be found. Molly was absent from school for two weeks now. Even after finding this out, Arthur made no attempt to visit Molly. He wanted to give her some space and figure out what he wanted to say and her, and the fear of getting hit again kept Arthur away from going to Molly's house. As Arthur spaced out more in class, he decided to try and visit Molly today, but he had to think carefully of what to say or he'd get hit again.

As Arthur made his way towards Molly's house, a feeling of uneasiness came over him. Arthur's breaths became shorter, and his mind was racing.

"What am I going to say? What am I going to do?", Arthur thought to himself.

He got to the big red door of the MacDonald residence, it was a daunting sight to see for Arthur. He rang the doorbell and waited nervously till a female rat answered the door.

"Yes?", said the woman.

"Ms. McDonald, is Molly home?", Arthur asked.

"She is, but I don't think she wants to see anyone right now.", said Ms. McDonald.

"Please, I really need to see Molly. I know she doesn't want to see anyone, but it's something I really need to talk to her now.", Arthur pleaded.

"Hmmmmm…. All right, but if she wants you to leave, please do.", said Mrs. Macdonald.

As Arthur nodded Mrs. Macdonald guided him towards the downstairs basement.

"Molly, you have a visitor!", yelled Mrs. MacDonald down the stairs.

After she left Arthur made his ways down the stairs, the sounds of punk rock music echoed throughout the basement. He eyed several band posters, and many 60's patterned veils hanging from the ceiling. Arthur then averted his gaze towards the girl sitting in the bean bag in her pajamas, her hair ruffled up as she just noticed Arthur.

"Hey", said Molly.

"Hey", said Arthur.

"Can I sit down?"

"Sure.."

Arthur took a seat far away from Molly on her couch.

"So what do you want?", Molly asked.

"We need to talk about what happened between us, but first I need you to promise me that you're going to move from that beanbag. Just promise me okay, my face cant take more abuse.", Arthur said forcefully.

Molly nodded in agreement, "You better not piss me of then, now what do you got to say?"


	6. Chapter 6

Chap 6

"You ever think about how we became friends Molly?", Arthur asked as he and Molly sat in Rodriguez diner late Friday night.

"Yeah, you came over and swam in my pool with your little sister. Why?", Molly asked as Luis came towards their table and poured coffee in their beige ceramic cups.

"You're real classy kids, you know that?", Luis sarcastically said to them.

"Hop off!", Molly menacingly to Luis.

As Luis walked off Molly made a rude gesture towards his direction.

Arthur took a sip from his mug and stuck his tongue out in disgust as he said, "Needs more sugar."

"As I was saying, you're a tough customer right?"

"Yeah."

"And I'm just a baby 3rd grader right?"

"Heh right."

"So why is it that the only interaction or conversation I can have with you is either behind closed doors or between phone lines?", Arthur said as he shook the sugar shaker and poured a massive amount of sugar into his coffee.

Molly sighed as she played with her silver spoon, dancing it on the table surface as the light shined on the spoon and made it glow.

"We've already been over this Arthur, you know and I know that if we are seen together talking and hanging out, then both of our reputations at school are gone. We'd become pariahs, outcasts. That's why we meet in secret like this, because I actually do consider you to be a friend, a good friend actually. I don't have many, so consider yourself lucky.", Molly said as she slyly smirked at her own remark.

"That goes into my next idea, why do you care about your reputation?", Arthur asked.

"Because, it just does, I cant be a tough customer without my reputation.", Molly rebuttaled.

"Do you think anyone is going to care about that Mol? Do you think when you're 30 you're gonna be scaring people for their money? You know you shouldn't care about being a tough customer and you shouldn't care about what people think of you. You should just be you, not Molly the bully or the tough customer. Because if you let people in they'll see what I see then people will actually respect you instead of you forcing them to respect you."

Arthur took another sip from his coffee as Molly began to glare at him. He could feel the intensity of her eyes beneath all that hair covering them.

Molly pushed aside her cup as she said, "Fuck you.. where do you get off telling me how I should live my life, what makes you so different? Huh? What do you know?"

"I know you.."

"Then you know this is the kind of shit that pisses me off and right now you're pissing me off."

"Molly calm down…"

"Don't tell me to calm down!", Molly shouted as she slammed her fist onto the table.

"Molly if you'll let me get to the point..", Arthur said as he pleaded with Molly.

Before he could finish that sentence Molly grabbed her notebook and got up as she took some change out of her pocket.

She dumped it on the table as she said, "Keep the change.."

As Arthur got up to try to stop Molly, she pushed him back into his seat as she stormed out the diner.

"Your coffee sucks too!", Molly said as she shouted to Luis, skateboarding off into the night.

"Hey fuck you too, okay!", Luis shouted back as Arthur ran after Molly leaving the diner in haste.

The cold wind smothered Molly's nose as she skateboarded down Grover St. Her thoughts focused on her rage and confusion towards what Arthur said. She couldn't stop thinking about what he said about image and reputation, she knew he was a little right, but what gave him that right to say that to her she thought. She knew one thing though, she couldn't shake this bitter taste in her mouth.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

We come back to the present at Molly's House, where Arthur is recanting his story back to Molly.

As she listens in intently, Arthur continues on by saying, "What I said back there was true, harsh, but it was the truth. I wouldn't tell you all that if you weren't my friend."

"You know, you're really good at complementing people…", Molly said with her arms still crossed.

"Look Molly, I've just realized over these past two weeks, that how I feel about life and how I feel about you has changed…"

There is a tense silence after Arthur had said that as Molly averted her gaze from Arthur.

" I realized I don't care about what people think about me anymore, and just thinking like that has made me open my eyes to the world. There's something bigger out there than just cooties, and he said, she said.", Arthur said this and moved closer to Molly as she sunk more into her bean bag.

Arthur then reached for Molly's face as he turned it towards his.

"Straight up, this is the truth, I have feelings for you, I like you. This is the truth, no squash at all."

As Arthur and Molly stared at each other, Molly slapped Arthur's hand away from her. She turned his blushed face away from his.

"Fine… I'll leave, but that's the only real truth you're gonna get in life..", Arthur said.

He then gathered up his belongings and started his climb back up the stairs.

"Hey…", Molly said faintly.

Arthur turned his head to Molly as she said, "I didn't say I didn't like you…. Just give me some time please, I need to process all this..."

"Sure..", Arthur said with a faint smile.

As Arthur left, Molly remained in her bean bag still looking out the window, her face with still blushing as red as her hair. She still felt awkward at what Arthur said, she was processing it all in her head. She couldn't understand these feelings of liking another person like that. Molly then turned off her stereo and just walked over to her bed. As she laid down and went under the covers, she tried to focus on going to sleep then deal with the confusion of today.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

As Arthur left Molly's house, he felt a whole deal of stress leave his body like he shook off a bad cold. The only thing he needed to worry about now was whether Molly would reciprocate those feelings back to him. Arthur wondered why he told Molly he liked her, it was strange for someone at an age like his to think about stuff like that, but Molly was different. She felt like any one of his other good friends, well secret friends. He enjoyed her company too, she was cool, adventurous, and he trusted her enough to talk about anything. Arthur continued on down the street, he thought about what was for dinner, but before he could finish that thought, a figure from the bushes grabbed him and pushed Arthur onto the pavement.

"Jesus Christ!", Arthur had yelled.

The figure was wearing a large raincoat and a fedora as he held Arthur down.

"I need to have a word with you yellow jacket!", snarled the figure.

Arthur tried to push the figure off, but only managed to rip off his fedora. Arthur gasped in realization that the figure was none other than his best friend Buster Baxter.

"Buster, what is the matter with you!", Arthur yelled finally pushing off his best friend.

As Buster gained his footing he dusted off his raincoat and pulled up Arthur. "Let's stop this game and hopscotch and take this book club over to the Sugar Oven.", Buster had said coolly.

"English! Buster what the hell is the matter with you?", Arthur yelled.

As Buster picked up his fedora he said to Arthur, "I need to talk to you Arthur, I need to ask you what is happening between you and Molly."

"Wait wait wait….. so you've been following Molly and I for two weeks?", Arthur asked.

"Yeah.." Arthur and Buster had resumed their conversation on the street at the Sugar Bowl.

"and some mysterious party has hired you to find out what is going on between Molly and I?"

"Yes."

"In those past two weeks, did it ever occur to you to come ask me directly?"

"No, not really. I was busy with other cases", Buster said as he thought back to the two weeks he wasted watching Bionic Bunny.

Arthur sighed as he rubbed he forehead in a circular motion trying to forgive his friend's lack of focus and morals.

"Have you been in contact with this person ever in the past two weeks?", Arthur asked.

"No, I just forgot about it after Molly hit you that one day…. Oh yeah! I did get a letter from him, It said 'I'll take care of the girl myself'. I still haven't gotten my rotten food back yet!", Buster said as his mind wandered.

Arthur eye's widened as he heard those last words from Buster, "Wait, take care of the girl? He's going after Molly!"

Arthur left his seat as fast as Buster could eat, as he sprinted out the Sugar Bowl. Buster was following behind, a sundae in tow. Arthur's mind raced as he began to imagine terrible things happening to Molly. They arrived at the MacDonald residence after sprinting for ten minutes, Buster collapsed in exhaustion and threw up as they encountered the front door of Molly's house swung open. As they approached the door, Arthur noticed a note lying on the ground.

'Meet me at Lakeview Baseball Diamond if you want to see the your lady in Red.' He crushed the note in his hand and began to sprint again towards Lakeview Elementary.

"I can't run anymore Arthur!", Buster said gasping for air as he ran after Arthur. One thing was for sure, Buster was getting too old for this shit.


End file.
